Polycarpus of Smyrna

Polycarpus of Smyrna (80-167) was the Bishop of Smyrna under the Roman Empire from 162 to 167. He was ordained by John the Apostle, and served as the bishop until his death at the age of 87 by burning at the stake.

Biography
Polycarpus of Smyrna was born in 80 AD in Smyrna, Phrygia, the Roman Empire (present-day Izmir, Turkey). Polycarpus was made the bishop of Smyrna by John the Apostle, an apostle of Jesus, and he was the leader of Christianity in western Asia Minor. Polycarpus was said to have miraculously extinguished a fire in Smyrna, In 167 AD, during the seventh year of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he was sentenced to death for heresy. He was sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but when the fire failed to touch him, Roman troops stabbed him to death. He was canonized in both Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.